Screen Time: X-MEN: DARK PHOENIX

X-MEN: DARK PHOENIX

Cast: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Sophie Turner, Tye Sheridan, Alexandra Shipp, Evan Peters, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Jessica Chastain

Directors: Simon Kinberg

Runtime: 113 minutes

Certificate: 12A

Release Date: 5th June 2019

Matt C: The last entry in 20th Century Fox's X-Men franchise (with the long-postponed The New Mutants increasingly unlikely to ever see the inside of a cinema auditorium), X-Men: Dark Phoenix tackles the legendary Dark Phoenix Saga from the pages of Uncanny X-Men #129 to #138, a collaboration between Chris Claremont and John Byrne that is widely regarded as one of the best comic book tales of all time. This was notoriously brought to the screen in 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand, which squandered the epic nature of the story by positioning it as more of subplot. Dark Phoenix brings Jean Grey's transformation front and centre but fans of the original source material are likely to be disappointed again as it forges along its own, not-entirely-convincing path.

Why I Love... THE X-MEN

Every true comics fan has their favourites: something that started us on our comics path, or changed our attitude to the medium, or something packed with nostalgia for a different phase of our lives. Here we explore why a particular favourite resonates with one of our number...

Mike S: So back in the dim and distant past when I was but a fledgling comic book collector, I lived in Germany which was not ideal for my love of comics, being largely limited to Avengers (George Perez’s original classic run) and the Legion Of Superheroes when I could get them. Comics were only stocked in the American PX (rarely) or on the van that used to visit to sell UK papers etc. One week I found myself Legion-less and took a chance on an odd looking comic with a cover that looked like a sideshow carnival’s freak show: Uncanny X-Men #111. That’s where it all began for me – my ongoing love, often bordering on obsession, for the X-Men and all they embodied. I consumed them ravenously and, while the Phoenix Saga was undoubtedly an instant classic, it was the run immediately preceding it which has stayed firm in my mind as my all-time favourite.

Claremont and Byrne are still my favourite creative team, perfectly capturing and developing the core cast and, in this particular run (#111-#131), introducing characters and concepts that have clearly stood the test of time. From old characters Mesmero, Sauron and the more recent Arcade, to the newly minted White Queen, Shadow King and, of course, Alpha Flight, Kitty Pryde and Dazzler: this was a golden age for me. (Ok, so maybe not so much Moses Magnum but that story at least introduced Mariko and in doing so made Wolverine far more interesting than he had ever been). And the grandiosity of it all: who could forget Magneto vs the X-Men under the surface of Antarctica and the cruel fate he had in store for the team at the hands of the robotic Nanny? Thank God for Storm and her hitherto unknown history as a master thief! But while I loved every issue of this run it was issues #125-#128 that truly encapsulate everything I hold dear about this era.
 

From The Vaults: WHAT IF? #27

While we spend a great deal of time engrossed in the current crop of comic books, let us not forget those fantastic tales from the past that still sit in amongst our collections and are always worth revisiting...

WHAT IF ? #27

Writer: Mary Jo Duffy

Art: Jerry Bingham, John Stuart & Carl Garford

Marvel

Matt C: 'What If Phoenix Had Not Died?'

A somewhat ironic statement in hindsight considering the number of times Jean Grey has since experienced resurrection, but back in 1981, when this comic was published, the death of a major character was still raw and seemingly permanent, so cosmic baldy The Watcher providing a peek into how things could have turned out was one of the more hefty subjects tackled by this series.

This was actually my initial introduction to the Dark Phoenix Saga. I picked it up as a UK black and white reprint, as a source of bona fide American comic books had yet to reveal itself to me back in the early 1980s. Even though I had limited access to X-Men comics, their abiding coolness had made its impact on an impressionable young mind, and any opportunity to delve into their world was embraced with gusto. Here I got to see, from a slightly different angle, a majorly traumatic part of their history and, unaware as I was of Phoenix at the time (Jean Grey was still Marvel Girl to me at that stage), this issue ably underscored the sheer universe-threatening power the cosmic entity now bonded with Grey possessed.

From The Vaults: UNCANNY X-MEN #98

While we spend a great deal of time engrossed in the current crop of comic books, let us not forget those fantastic tales from the past that still sit in amongst our collections and are always worth revisiting...

UNCANNY X-MEN #98

Writer: Chris Claremont

Art: Dave Cockrum, Sam Grainger & Janice Cohen

Marvel

Andrew B: At the beginning, she was something of a cliché. In 1963’s launch issue of The X-Men, Jean Grey may have been introduced as the newest student at the Xavier School, but we’d pretty much seen her type before.

“A most attractive young lady,” according to Professor X himself. “A real living doll,” according to Cyclops. And in the high-flying (and permanently leering) Angel’s words, “a redhead. Look at that face… and the rest of her.” More like Objectified Girl than Marvel Girl, perhaps, but there she was. In essence, a token female and potential love interest. A little predictable. A little dull. A little, well, grey.

To be fair, Jean is allowed to hint at her own hidden potential: “You’ll learn more about me, boys, in time!”

The time turned out to be about twelve years.

From The Vaults: X-MEN: THE ASGARDIAN WARS

While we spend a great deal of time engrossed in the current crop of comic books, let us not forget those fantastic tales from the past that still sit in amongst our collections and are always worth revisiting...

X-MEN: THE ASGARDIAN WARS

Writers: Chris Claremont

Art: Art Adams, Paul Smith, Mike Mignola, Bob Wiacek & Terry Austin

Marvel

Mike S: It’s no secret that Uncanny X-Men is my all-time favourite comic book, going right back to my first issue (#111 – Mesmero, the brainwashed X-men as circus performers – seriously, check it out!) but once the franchise released its first spin-off in the form of the New Mutants, I was truly hooked. It seems so strange to think there was once a time when there was only one spin-off title and one main title and a crossover could be self-contained and not require enough expenditure to require a second mortgage. Which brings me to my all-time favourite X-Men crossover: The Asgardian Wars.

Collected in a trade, this arc contains X-Men & Alpha #1 & #2, New Mutants Special Edition #1 and Uncanny X-Men Annual #9. While the X-Men/Alpha Flight story is a nice enough two-part tale entitled ‘The Gift’, it offers little to the overall arc other than establishing the reason for Loki’s animosity towards the X-Men and his reasons for targeting the junior team, and some good character moments between Cyclops (currently married to Madelyne Pryor) and Rachel (his daughter from the future/alternate reality; it’s the X-Men – just go with it!).

From The Vaults: UNCANNY X-MEN #137

While we spend a great deal of time engrossed in the current crop of comic books, let us not forget those fantastic tales from the past that still sit in amongst our collections and are always worth revisiting...

UNCANNY X-MEN #137

Writer: Chris Claremont

Art: John Byrne, Terry Austin & Glynis Wein

Marvel

Rob N: 'Phoenix Must Die!' screamed the sensational cover blurb of Uncanny X-Men #137 when it came out in 1980 as the concluding issue of the Dark Phoenix storyline. This had been a sequence of storytelling that had set fandom buzzing with excitement on a scale never seen before, and probably never seen again until Watchmen was serialised. A multi-part sequence that had its seeds sown in the equally epic Hellfire Club story arc, it inspired all manner of fan theories in the small press publications of the time and left us all on tenterhooks as each issue was devoured for clues, scraps of clues and, well, scraps. This was the very peak of the Claremont/Byrne partnership (not forgetting Terry Austin on inks – no one inked Byrne better than he did), pairing up great writing with exceptional art to deliver what is in retrospect a milestone of the late Bronze Age.

But of course we didn’t believe the cover blurb for a moment as we gazed at the cover. Yes, Marvel occasionally killed a supporting character for dramatic effect, but a central member of the X-Men who could trace her lineage all the way to the first issue? I mean – Jean Grey? No way. It was just the usual Marvel bombastic hyperbole that we came to expect on the covers.

Excelsior.

X-MEN MONTH @ THE PCG

Matt C: The imminent release of X-Men: Dark Phoenix will see the end of the Twentieth Century Fox cycle of mutant movies. Now that Disney have taken over the company which will see the properties absorbed into the Marvel Cinematic Universe at some point in the not too distant future (the endlessly delayed The New Mutants is looking iincreasingly like it will skip a theatrical release altogether - and as for Deadpool... who knows what'll happen there!).

Following the release of X-Men: Apocalypse and the announcement of a Disney-Fox merger it seemed the apparent popular consensus was leaning towards a dismissal of the franchise as a whole, a revisionist approach that took the position that Fox had completely mishandled the X-Men's cinematic journey. Sure, there have been several bumps and rough spots along the way, but by and large there has been plenty of greatness on offer since the first X-Men film made its debut nearly 20 years ago, with some entries easily capable of ranking highly in any Best Comic Book Movie Ever poll.

Considering we're saying farewell to these iterations of the characters - and bearing in mind that Jonathan Hickman is returning to Marvel Comics to relaunch the entire X-Men line in a couple of months - now seemed like the perfect time for a series of mutant-flavoured articles, so please join us over the next few weeks as we recall some our favourite moments in the long, convoluted history of the X-Men on the printed page...